Sydney in winter

Time passes so quickly, i have been back from Sydney for one week already!
This trip has been wonderful, with lots of good food, good wine and most importantly, good company!

I arrived in Sydney on 13th June and the first two days were spent leisurely in Sydney city.
Dinner together with Ning Ning after her CA exam on the second night :)

The following day, with the arrival of James Tan the boyfriend, we made our way to hunter valley, a 2-hour drive away from the city, and spent 3 days 2 nights there.

First and foremost, i have to thank our driver, the joker, who drove throughout the trip. Without whom we would not have made it to hunter valley. And thank you for the entertainment throughout the trip! So here are a few pictures dedicated to you :D



I hope he doesn't kill me if ning shows him this...

Anyways, upon arrival in Hunter Valley. We checked into our rental holiday home, which has three lovely bedrooms and a cozy living room. (de'Vine - http://www.stayz.com.au/51927)
The couple's retreat

Water bed which i slept in!

Spare room.. if only Ying/Keng were here!

Cozy living room

The scenery at Hunter Valley was beautiful at many times, be it the plants, the wineries or the clear blue sky.

At the wineries




We visited many wineries and discover many fine wine! Here's a list of my recommendation:
1. Chardonnay from McGuigan
2. Noon harvest Merlot from McGuigan
3. Pinot Noir from Hungerford Hills
4. Moscato from Tempus Two
Though none of the sauvignon blanc really made an impression.

I would also like to give special mention to this top notch restaurant in Hunter Valley: Muse (http://www.musedining.com.au/).
Apart from the impeccable and warm service given and quality food, i was also impressed with the details they pay into the meal being served. In all, we received three complimentary dishes served throughout the meal, consisting of an appetizer (served after bread and before our starter), a lime sorbet (served after starter and before main course), and finally a dessert (after our own dessert).


Truly an unforgettable dining experience.

Apart from all the yummy food we had (as can be seen in my facebook album), we also whipped up delicious meals on our own!

Creamy scrambled eggs (ning: pass right?)

Rosti in the making

I also went for a professional barista course (http://www.coffeeschool.com.au/) and learned to make these!
Can you tell the difference between a cappuccino and latte?


Latte art:



Last but not least, I must mention these chocolate fondant cake (from Muse restaurant) and sesame ice cream (from Passion Flower) which i ate. The best i have ever had!!
Distinct crust which oozes out rich creamy fondant chocolate.

Sesame ice cream was so smooth and creamy~

The trip ended on a good note and I really had a great time. But at the same time it was a sad one because Ning will be back in Sg only in late September, after I have left for the States. This means I probably won't see her until another year or so. Ning you better visit! i bring u outlet shopping :D

Cebu, Philippines

This June I went for a 4D3Ntrip with my ex run-mates(for the first time) to Cebu, Philippines!
With rather high expectations, as Mactan Island (15minutes drive from Mactan-Cebu International Airport) was ranked the 3rd best beach in the Philippines. But it wasn't as good as I thought it will be.

This is my first time taking a budget-budget airline (Cebu Pacific) i.e. boarding from the budget terminal. Not a very pleasant experience, as the flight was delayed for 3 hours at 0020h! Hence we hung around at the budget terminal till about 0325 before we finally board the plane... budget-style.


At 0700 we arrived at Mactan-Cebu Airport. As it was too early to check in, we headed to the Waterfront Casino just opposite the airport, thinking of having a game or two. Wah, the most cui casino I have ever seen - only one table game at play and with old lok kok slot machines. We probably took 2 minutes to make a round in the casino before we decided we should just head to the hotel, in the hope getting an early check-in....


Which we didn't. We then waited till 2pm as the hotel was fully occupied.

Nevertheless, the hotel we stayed at was pretty decent.

the hotel pool

Nice beach?

But its man-made. See how small the beach is, haha.

The bed was quite comfortable, at least.

After checking in, we headed out on the streets in search of a snorkeling package which we can take up for the next day. Bad bad bad. We decided to go to this area where most of the tour agencies were at. Then this group of guys came up to us and said that they offer tour packages at very cheap prices and even gave ur some quotations. But we were not ready to take up some tour from these dodgy guys, so we ignored them. But they kept following us! even waited for us when we went into some of the tour agencies!

Finally we ended at this place called Kontiki Divers, which was one of the 3 tour agencies listed on Tripadvisor. It had three reviews. The other two had one each. Yes, it was so difficult researching on this place! We met the boss, whose name was Mike, and he offered us an a-la-carte service - book the boat at a fixed price, rent the snorkel equipment etc. Sounded good (cheaper than the packages which we have found earlier. Then Mike said his boat is only available on Monday and as we were looking at Saturday, he said he could get someone's boat for us (i.e. outsource). Without much choice we said ok. BUT GUESS WHAT. he gave the business to the group of guys who had been following us all the time! Mike said he know these guys and they are ok. Well, back to square one.

The snorkeling trip was not pleasant to start with. Mike said we didn't call to confirm the booking so the boat was not ready. We had to wait about 45minutes. Then to our horror, there was no ice in the cooler (to put the drinks and cheeses which we have bought), no life jackets (i can't really swim!), and no towels as promised. Mike said that these would be provided if it was his boat. As it wasn't, those items were not provided. So we had to rent and pay for them individually.

And bad things just kept happening.

We began a trip to the Fish Sanctuary for fish feeding. After we were back on the boat, we were approached by this group of 3 guys on a sampan (or boat or whatever) and asked to pay these conservation fees of 250p/person (around S$7.50). These people really looked dodgy and we didn't really want to pay. But our driver told us that it is compulsory, and it seems like if we didn't pay we will not be going anywhere. So reluctantly, we paid. At the end of the trip we learnt from Mike that we were not required to pay these fees i.e. we have been cheated. like what the hell. we knew it. but we didn't really have a choice. We also wondered if Mike knew about this all along. If he had been there for so long and have been doing business with this people, the same thing must have happened before right? Conclusion: You can't really trust anyone on this island.

Just to add, despite the several attempts to rip us off, the amount we paid for in the end was still cheaper than if signed up for a tour package with one of the local agencies, which would have cost 3500p/person (most of the korean tourists who were willing to spend probably went for this) We paid about about a total of 1,400p/person instead. Cheaper, but u will have to deal with the hassle of avoiding being ripped of from time to time.

The rest of the trip was alright. And in fact the waters is really nice. Clear, turqoise water and clear blue skies.




Food was not that bad either.Mango is the local specialty and we couldn't resist the mango smoothies and shakes.. YUMS!

French fries made from freshly cut potatoes

Really cheap and good thai food.. bill for six. only S$10 per person!


FISH and chips, mactan island style. We had a good laugh at this.

The most common form of transport here is the Jeepney. It costs 7p to take it as a public transport (sharing with strangers, mainly locals) or 150p to hire the entire car for private use.

On the last day, we headed to the market in Cebu City to buy some local produce to bring home
All the stores in the market were selling the same stuff - dried fish, dried fish and dried fish. We really smell fishy after the shopping trip (we bought alot of dried mangoes, which were really good!) and had to withstand the way we smell for the rest of day, even at the cinema.






Then there was the local specialty - mangoes. They probably have as many brands of mangoes as potato chips as we have in our supermarket.

All in all, the bad experiences were partly compensated by the clear turqoise waters and good company of my travel companions. If anyone is intending to come here, i won't say its an absolute no but would recommend you pay a couple of hundreds more and go to Boracay instead. I hear its really nice!